Olentangy Liberty High School student, Sophie Doenges, is a passionate and driven member of our school’s community. She is actively involved in the diversity club which aims to promote inclusivity and awareness within Liberty. Her interest in art history sparked an idea for a diversity club bulletin board. The board was originally titled “Artists You Don’t Know (because they’re not old white guys)” and features underappreciated artists of various ethnicities. The board is made to be visually appealing, as Sophie is aware that students often don’t stop to read the bulletin boards. She plans to change the artists monthly in correspondence to various celebrations. November is Native American Heritage Month, and the two Native American artists on Sophie’s board reflect this. However, only a few hours after the poster was put up, she had to alter it. The advisor of the diversity club reached out to her to let her know that, with no specific names given, the history department was upset with her poster. Without any real explanation, Sophie then had to remove the “because they’re not old white guys” line from her poster. Sophie feels that her poster wasn’t offensive, and was simply aimed at educating students.
“I don’t see why people are getting offended because of that. It’s a fact… if you ask anyone to name some visual artists they’re gonna say Van Gogh, da Vinci, Picasso, etc,” Sophie said. “Not many people can name two or even one artist that has a different sex, race, or sexuality than a straight white man… especially not a bunch of high schoolers.”
The “because they’re not old white guys” portion of the title was meant to be a humorous critique of a flaw in the education of art, not an offensive target on anyone. Education of diverse artists is essential. An artist’s sex, race, culture, and sexuality play a key role in their art as different people bring different views and criticisms of the world. Sophie showed the poster to many people, including some older white men, who all felt that it was funny and did not need to be altered. A lighthearted joke that helps to better convey the meaning of a poster is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in a school hallway. Anyone should be capable of taking the title as what it is, a joke, and then use it to better appreciate the knowledge that can be gained from the poster. Though Sophie’s poster remains up and is continuing to be updated, some of its meaning is lost without its original title.
“Apparently, it is not okay to point out something messed up in the world,” Sophie said. “The school wants us to live in ignorance about how twisted the world is.”
